1950s Geelong servo fuels post-auction buy

A Newtown service station will continue pumping petrol for years to come after the landmark freehold site sold after auction.

The Caltex, leased through Bonney Energy, has been pumping petrol since at least the 1950s and holds the main lease on the corner 2000sqm property at 404-408 Shannon Ave, Newtown.

Darcy Jarman, Geelong West, selling agent Tim Darcy says a Geelong buyer purchased the freehold property immediately after auction on Friday.

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The property was passed in for $1.3 million, selling for a higher, undisclosed price, he says.

“There was a mixture of interested parties, both local and external,” Darcy says.

404-408 Shannon Ave, Newtown, sold for more than $1.3 million after auction.

“The profile of the purchaser was a speculative investor/developer.”

But Darcy says the highest and best use of the site for at least the medium term is as a petrol station, although it is a key development site, with retail and commercial potential.

Subway and drive-through coffee outlet Muzz Buzz also hold leases to parts of the site.

Darcy says hurdles standing in the way of redeveloping with site is the remediation of the land, which has been used as a petrol station for at least 70 years, while the site is also zoned for residential use under the planning scheme, not mixed use, which would allow a commercial development.

The petrol station site at 404-408 Shannon Ave, Newtown.

Market reviews for rentals fall due in March 2019 for Bonney Energy, in May 1919 for Muzz Buzz and September 2020 for Subway.

The previous service station site to sell in the area was the redeveloped United Petroleum leased centre at 302-306 Aberdeen St, Manifold Heights.

That service centre was sold with a 20-year lease with further options to 2061 with the independent fuel retailer for $5.61 million in 2016.

Darcy says the shorter lease arrangements at Shannon Ave meant that buyers had a more measured approach at auction.

This article from the Geelong Advertiser first appeared as “Newtown servo site sells to local investor after auction”.